This Is Me
by Enigmaforum
Summary: She finally found out who she was, where she was supposed to be. This was the real her, and it was her time to shine. So why can't two of the most important people in her life see that?


**Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers in any way, shape or form. Nor do I own the song that inspired me for this fic, that honor belongs to Disney too. Damn..disney is taking over the world isn't it?**

**AN: So..I'm back to the PR writing universe and it's all because of a song and friend in need of some good SPD fics. This story was inspired by the AMAZING song "This Is Me" by Demi Lovato, from the movie Camp Rock. Go listen to the ACOUSTIC version and tell me that it's not amazing. Lyrics to the song are at the end of the story. I'm exploring a new character here and I hope you enjoy it. And this is for PinkGreenWhite4ever..my big sister. I love you girlie!**

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She sat in a room shrouded in darkness, unwilling to turn a light on. To do that might alert someone else to her presence and she really wasn't sure that she wanted company right now. She was sure that she didn't want anyone by her, not to mention her closest friends because they would most certainly interrupt her train of thought, and that was something that couldn't happen right now because as much as she didn't want to, Sydney Drew had to think about a lot of things tonight.

_Tonight_, she scoffed at the thought because it was no longer tonight; it was this morning and she'd been sitting in the lounge for more than half the night. It was now three in the morning and she still had yet to calm her troubled mind down. She knew that anyone of her close friends as well as the rest of the base here at SPD would call her crazy if they knew. Why you ask?

Well, that would be because the entire base was still riding high off their win against Gruumm from a little over a week before. It was something they all had every right to because after a year of fighting, it was good to see justice wrought upon someone that had caused them all so much grief. It had been a hard fight for them all, and at times, she'd definitely felt like giving up, but in the end, they'd prevailed and she knew that it was because of the strength of her fellow teammates and through a strength she'd found in herself along the way.

She smiled when she thought of her teammates, who in all actuality had become her family in the time they'd spent defending the Earth together. Z, the one girl she'd absolutely hated in the beginning, was now her sister in everything but blood. The two were each other's support in a male-dominated team and Syd treasured the friendship they had together. Jack was like her big brother, and even though he was no longer a part of the team, he was still a vital part of her life. Bridge; she giggled at the thought of her Bridgey, her little brother. He'd been with her since the beginning and was her confidant, a best friend, and shoulder to cry on when being a Ranger had gotten to her. In fact, she knew that if she'd let him, he'd probably be in here with her right now, listening away and rambling on about the ways she could fix things.

She laughed to herself as she imagined it, but she knew that for this one time, this night, she couldn't have him in here. She had to think of things by herself and make choices on her own. Before she let herself lapse back into her rather depressing thoughts, she let her mind drift to Sky. He'd also been with her since day one of the academy, but they hadn't really gotten along. Of course, things had changed over this past year, because well, they had changed. Sky had gotten off his high horse and accepted that he wasn't perfect, and in the process, she'd done the same thing. He'd allowed himself to open up to his teammates and she'd learned to be the compassionate ear he could talk to when Bridge wasn't around or just wouldn't understand. Their relationship was different, and she wasn't sure exactly where it was heading, but she knew that things were definitely not sibling-like with them. She counted herself lucky to have these four people in her life, to have the constant support system around her, because without them, she would most surely be the spoiled princess she'd started out as.

She winced at the memory, because in all honesty, Sydney hated to think about herself in the beginning of this journey. She hated the fact that she'd been spoiled, selfish, and just an overall brat because she wasn't that girl anymore. In the course of their fights with Grumm and his various goons, Syd had become something so much more. She'd grown as a Ranger and more importantly as a person.

She'd learned that world honestly and truly didn't revolve around her, that she wasn't as perfect as she'd thought she was and that being compassionate was amazing. She'd learned to care about other people, to let people in and of course to not judge a book by its cover. In an odd ass way, she kind of owed Grumm because without him sending a constant stream of monsters and wearing her down, she'd never have been able to start again.

Sydney Drew was no longer a girl; she was a woman, one that she was truly and completely proud to be. She no longer cared about money or fame or having people love her because of those things. She cared about the universe, about Earth, its people, and she was happy to defend it without a thank you because the feeling that came with doing good, with protecting the innocent, was just something that couldn't be replaced.

So why, if she had done all of this good in her life, was she being kept up by her thoughts in the middle of the night? Earlier today, she had talked with her parents, two people she hadn't been able to speak to because of all the craziness that Grumm had brought upon them. She'd chosen to cut herself off from them for the past few weeks in order to concentrate on Grumm and to keep them safe. She'd been waiting for things to calm down to call them, because this week, while it was a celebration, it had also involved a lot of clean-up work for the team. They'd had to face down spare baddies and, of course, deal with the everyday crimes as well.

Her parents had beaten her to the punch on calling; they'd done so early this morning. Instead of the joyous reunion she'd been hoping for, there'd been yelling and fighting. Her parents had asked her to come home, to really come home, to drop the SPD nonsense and go back to the way things had been before. She'd erupted at them after that, asking them how they could be so against her being a Ranger when they'd been a part of SPD themselves. There was a lot more yelling involved and the conversation had finally ended with her parents telling her that she'd changed and then hanging up. Ever since this morning, she'd been preoccupied with their words. Yes, she'd changed, but it wasn't a bad thing. At least, it wasn't a bad thing in her mind, but to her parents it was, and Sydney didn't know how to process that information because she'd never had to deal with anything like it. Her parents had always been the ones she hadn't had to try with and now she found her brain struggling to comprehend exactly how to get back into their good graces.

So that was why she was up this late, in the dark common room, sitting on the couch, curled up into a ball. She knew that if she'd asked any of her friends, they'd have been there with her, but Sydney knew that this was something she had to think about on her own. And surprisingly, she was coming to a decision quite all right on her own.

She loved her parents with all her heart, but she wasn't going to change again just for them. She was truly happy with where she was at and Syd didn't want to chance going back to where she'd been before now. She was the Pink Ranger of Power Rangers SPD and she was damn proud to wear the color she did, to represent those that came before her. This was who she was, and she didn't want to hide that from anyone anymore, especially her parents.

She'd come to this conclusion awhile ago because it wasn't hard to think about. What was hard to do was get up the courage to call her parents back and tell them exactly how she felt. It was something she'd never really had to do, but she needed to do it. They had to know where she stood and she had to say it out loud, because then it would be more concrete. Now, she just needed to get the balls to call them before she could talk herself out of it completely.

"Who's in here?"

She jumped at the deep voice, a slight yelp coming from her lips as her head rapidly turned toward the doorway to find a tall figure standing there.

"Tell me who you are," the voice commanded, stepping into the room, scanning it with its eyes, stopping when their gaze connected with hers.

"Syd?" the voice was softer now, and she found herself sagging in relief against the couch, she recognized that voice: it was Sky's.

"Hi Sky," she said softly as the lights came on in the room. Sure enough, there he was walking towards her in his uniform, jacket unbuttoned just slightly, looking gorgeous as always.

"What are you doing up? It's almost four in the morning," he told her and she groaned.

"Thinking and please don't tell me how late it is. I have the early shift tomorrow," she replied with a wrinkle of her nose. He chuckled and sat down beside her on the couch.

"Well, then why are you up? You should be sleeping."

"I told you, I've just been thinking. Why are you up?" she countered.

"I was making my final rounds and I saw a figure sitting here all alone in the dark," he replied. "What are you thinking about?"

"Things."

"Really helpful there, Syd," he replied with a roll of his eyes. "Seriously, tell me what's up. You look upset."

"Maybe because I am," she told him. Normally, Sky wasn't the first person she would have opened up to, but he was right here and asking and awake and she desperately needed some encouragement before she called her parents. "I talked to my parents for the first time today since we won and..they…they weren't the most supportive. They wanted me to come home, to leave SPD; they called this nonsense. We fought and they said that I'd changed and then...we hung up. They made it sound like my changing was a bad thing, and it's not. I'm just fine with who I am now and I just…don't know what to do," she confessed all too quickly. She looked at Sky and saw him looking at her with a 'what in the hell did I just get myself into' look and she almost laughed; almost but she couldn't because she was too nervous about what he would say to her confession.

She didn't say anything and there was a silence between the two as she stared at him, refusing to look away and show him that she was terrified at that moment.

"Syd, we've all changed this year. For the better," he said slowly. "And you should be happy with who you've changed into because it's a good person. I'm proud to say that I've gotten to watch that change," he emphasized. She looked at him curiously, the surprise written so clearly on her face that made him laugh.

"Don't look so shocked. I know that a lot of the time it seemed like I had my head too far up my ass to notice anything but me, but I noticed things," he told her. "I noticed that you became less self-absorbed, less materialistic and more caring and compassionate about others. And if I might add, you do your color proud, Syd. You're meant to be pink. You were meant to be a Ranger," he told her and she smiled before quickly throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him.

Sky froze for a moment before quickly wrapping his arms around her back and hugging her back.

"Thank you," she whispered into his ear, kissing his cheek as she pulled away. "I needed that," she told him and he smiled. "And you, Mr. Tate, have definitely become the man I knew you could be. You're different, too. Good different," she told him and he smiled. "Will you…stay with me when I call them?"

"Of course." She grinned before taking out her phone and slowly dialing her parent's number, putting it on speaker as the dial tone rang out, her hands shaking just slightly. Sky noticed and immediately moved a hand to her knee to comfort her. She smiled, but she kept her gaze on the phone, sucking in a breath when the answering machine came on.

"Hi mom, hi daddy," she said quietly when the message finished. "It's Sydney, and I'm sorry about earlier, but I'm not going to change back to who I was. I like who I am right now and it's going to stay that way. I need you to accept that because this is real, this is me. Your daughter is the Pink Ranger of SPD and you need to deal with that. I understand if you need time, but I'm not hiding who I want to be anymore," she paused and took in a shaky breath. "I love you both. Call me when you're ready to talk."

She hung the phone up then and stared at it for a few minutes until she felt Sky's hand closing over hers, taking the phone and putting it on the couch between them. "That was really good Syd. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks again for being here, my Knight in Red armor."

"Anytime you need a Knight, Syd, I'll be here. And that's a promise."

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_Song lyrics for "This is Me": _

_I've always been the kind of girl  
That hid my face  
So afraid to tell the world  
What I've got to say  
But I have this dream  
Right inside of me  
I'm gonna let it show  
It's time to let you know  
to let you know_

This is real  
This is me  
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now  
Gonna let light shine on me  
Now I've found who I am  
There's no way to hold it in  
No more hiding who I wanna be  
This is me

_Do you know what it's like  
To feel so in the dark  
To dream about a life  
Where you're the shining star  
Even though it seems  
Like it's too far away  
I've got to believe in myself  
It's the only way_

_This is real  
This is me  
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now  
Gonna let light shine on me  
Now I've found who I am  
There's no way to hold it in  
No more hiding who I wanna be  
This is me_

_You're the voice I hear inside my head  
The reason that I'm singing  
I need to find you  
I gotta find you  
You're the missing piece I need  
The song inside of me  
I need to find you  
I gotta find you_

_This is real  
This is me  
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now  
Gonna let light shine on me  
Now I've found who I am  
There's no way to hold it in  
No more hiding who I wanna be  
This is me_

You're the missing piece I need  
The song inside of me

This is me

You're the voice I hear inside my head  
The reason that I'm singing

Now I've found who I am  
There's no way to hold it in  
No more hiding who I wanna be  
This is me

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**AN: So let me know what you think in a review. Oh and GO LISTEN to "This Is Me" acoustic version by Demi Lovato. This girl has serious talent…go check her out. Her debut album comes out on Sept. 23****rd****!! **

**And again…review! Please and thank you!**


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